Improvement in apparatus for superheating air for marine-boiler furnaces



W. C. FORD. APPARATUS FOR SUPERHEATING AIP. FOR MA RINE B'oILER FURNACES.

Patented Nov. 23, 1875.

N.PETERSy PHOTOLITHDGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. D C- UNITED STATES WILLIAM Gironi), on BnookLYNfNEw YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR. SUPERHEATING VAIR FOR MARINE-BOILER FURNACES.

`Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 170,] 63, dated November 23,1875; appli-cation filed September 29, 1875.

-To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, WILLIAM C. FORD, of thecity of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings,

in the State of New York, have vinvented ceract description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, making part of this specification, in which- Y Figure l is a vertical section through the smoke-stack, steam-drum, and the fore part of two opposite boilers, showing the smoke and steam connections, and a vertical section through a furnace of each boiler, with my invention appliedthereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through Fig. 3, on the line X X. Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section, taken on the lineYY 0f Fig. l; and Fig. his a horizontal .section through the furnace above the grate-bars.

The object of this invention is to more effectually introduce and d'iiuse a current of superheated 'air in the furnace of a marine steam` boiler, upon the top of the re, near the sur face thereof, for the purpose of intensifying the surface of the fire,`by obtaining a more perfect combustion of the fuel, through the intermingling of the fresh or free hot air with the intlammable gases at the surface of the re. I

My invention consists of a pipe, or a series 0f pipes or flues, combined with the smokestack or steam-chimney, and arranged in the fire or smoke due, and connected to a jet-pipe,

or a series of jet-pipes, to deliver the hot air upon the surface ofv the fire at the sides. or in the front part of the furnace, the pipes or flues to be so arranged with reference to the smokeues and lire-surface as to heat the air upon its passage through the pipes by the escaping heat of the furnace.

An application of this invention is illustrated bythe drawing, where A A represent two boilers, set opposite each other to leave a passage way between them, the fronts of the boilers being turned toward each other to bring the furnaces on each side of the passage-way. The furnaces are shown by F' F. The two boilers are connected overhead by means vof a The steam-chimney is arranged4 on` the topof the smokeconnections, and is connected to the steam-space of the boiler by means of pipes or dues C C. On the top of the steamchimney is arranged the smoke-stack D, large enough 4to embrace all the flues b b b b in the steam-chimney. These are the ordinary parts of the marine boiler and its connections now in common use. The additionsby which my invention is applied consist, first, of a drum, a, made to encircle the smoke-stack, and large enough to leave a flue between the outside of the smokefpipe and the inside of the drum, the upper part of this drum being fitted with a series of vaues, a c, to collect the air in the drum when thepipe is in motion in either direction; second, a series of pipes, dd, fitted in the smoke-stack, the upper ends of which pipes are formed in a long angular nozzle, which is fitted over corresponding shaped openings cut in the side of the smoke-pipe to create a passage. or flue from the drum to the pipes. The said pipes pass down through the dues b ofthe steamchimney, and connect to the horizontal pipes d', arranged in the smoke-connection H. These horizontal pipes d run the whole length of the smoke-connection, by

which all the boilers in the series are connected to the hot-air blast. Third, a series of pipes, ff, connecting the pipes d to a pipe or pipes, i, set either in the furnace or arranged in th'eiwater-space of the boiler, as shown in Fig. 4, the pipes f being fitted with valves 4 j, to regulate, the dow of hot air, and the pipes i being tted with a series of jet-pipes or holes, o, to diffuse the free air evenly over the surface of the fire, the jet-pipes to be screwed through the side plate of the'furnace into the pipe in the manner shown, or they may be applied in any good and efficient manner to effect the end sought after.

It will be seen that by this arrangement the f air is collected in the drum a and forced down the pipes d by the motion of the smoke-pipe in either direction; that the air is heated on its passage through the drum and pipes by the escaping or waste heat of the furnace, and that. the furnace is kept lsupplied with a current or blast of hotfree air Without the exsnioke-pipeffor the purnose of lcollectingand forcing down the air by the motion of the vessel, and for thev purpose of heating the saine in its passage to the re by the Waste heat of the furnace, substantially in the manner described.

WM. C. FORD. Witnesses:

W. R. HOLBROOK, D. LENNOX. 

